This week was a banner week in the UK for banning radio ads that have helium related themes.
The three complaints were all about inhaling helium being dangerous. And the ASA ended up upholding the complaints about the two adverts.
The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC), who cleared the adverts, said it had approved similar creative treatments over many years and understood the risk to be so small that no harm could result from the scenarios portrayed. We felt there was sufficient documented evidence to confirm that inhaling helium gas was a potentially dangerous practice as it replaced the oxygen in the blood with another gas, which for some people could cause asphyxiation. Although it was unlikely to seriously harm the majority of people we considered the advertisement condoned the the practice of inhaling helium, particularly as describing it as a "party trick" and "the perfect stuff".
was banned for the same reasoning back. And later in the US, just months later, a ToysRUs commercial got a bunch of complaints by parents when Geoffery the Giraffe somehow inhales helium in a hot air balloon. ToysRUs pulled <a href="https://adland.tv/toys-r-us-helium-2003-030-usa>the advert as a response to the complaints.
